Potential
by EbonyCircles
Summary: There was always potential. Potential for happiness, for love, for life. But how do you tell someone you love that you no longer love them? Allegra Van Allen comes face to face with that exact choice.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Own nothing Melissa de la Cruz owns it all.**

**A/N: Well here is my second stab at a Blue Blood Novel. Yes I fully intend on continuing both, don't worry.**

* * *

"The past was nothing to her; offered no lesson which she was willing to heed. The future was a mystery which she never attempted to penetrate. The present alone was significant..."

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

* * *

Allegra Van Allen was what one would call a curious person. She liked to get to the bottom of things. As a child she had always been the one jumping in mud puddles and searching through the large halls of their mansion in the hopes of finding something more. It was simply the way she was, always searching for something that she felt she had lost but was not quite sure what it was.

Besides that fact that she was a Blue Blood and supposedly some big deal in their society Allegra herself was not sure who she was, anymore. At seventeen she was just beginning her senior year at Duchesne and she felt that her life was already over. Over before it had really even begun.

While her red blooded classmates seemed excited at the prospect of attending college and going on, Allegra felt trapped. She felt that her life had barely begun and now it was over. She was Gabrielle and Allegra no longer existed. It was like she never had any say in the matter it just was. It was something that some part of her had decided long ago. She skipped over the pavement and grabbed the top of the wall that ran around her house. She pulled herself up and over dropping easily onto the soft green grass of her back yard. The lights were all out in the house as Allegra climbed the wall up to her room. Around her fifteenth birthday she had started this late night stroll. It had originally been a time where she could think. Go through her memories in private and collect herself for the coming days.

Now it was just a way for her to relax and get away from everything that was going on at school and in her private life. She felt the initial pull toward Charles early on but now she dug her heels in. She just did not want to be dictated to again by her angelic side. Allegra dropped into her room with ease and grave that was born of her angelic nature. She draped her bag over her chair and pulled out the band that held her hair up. She shook her hair out and ran her fingers through it.

"Interesting entrance, sister," her brother said through the darkness. Allegra's breath caught in her throat she had been found out. It wasn't that her family would mind that she walked the streets alone, it was more that she will fully put herself in danger.

"Charles I thought you would have gone to bed already." She searched around in the darkness for her pajamas. Ignoring her twin who was obviously unhappy.

"I was worried when my twin decides to roam this city late at night."

"I was completely safe."

"That's not the point." Charles replied flicking on the lamp. Allegra shied away from the light, its brightness temporarily blinding her.

"I think it is, goodnight," she replied forcefully shoving him out the door and slamming it in his face. She changed and slunk under the covers of her room. She flicked off the light and relaxed it had been so refreshing to be out and about in New York, it truly was the city that never sleeps.

* * *

She was running late, curses. Allegra Van Allen was zooming around her room throwing on various items of clothing and shoving books hurriedly into her bag. Pausing only in the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and hear her mother say.

"Allegra you need to eat something."

"Can't mom gotta run." She stashed the bottle in her back pack and dashed out the door. If walking through the city at night was invigorating running through the busy city in the day was like living in constant energy. She could be a part of this city and still be able watch people as they went about their daily business. There was the mother—well more likely the nanny taking kids to school, students hurrying to class because like her they were late, there were the business people with the papers and briefcases. The whole realm of humans lay open at her feet and none of them would be able to see her. Even if they could the best part was they would just see a typical girl.

She raced up the steps of Duchesne as the students were trickling into classes and she managed to make it to her AP American History course just as the bell rang.

"Just in time Ms. Van Allen," her teacher commented, "take a seat." She smiled apologetically and took her usual seat in the back of the class. It was becoming a regular occurrence for her this early morning race to school. Her mother thought it was just a phase, something that Allegra would out grow. But lately it was becoming habit, stay out all night, catch a few hours of sleep then race to school without pause or hesitation. No one thought to ask her why but she just did, and she still was not sure why she did it herself.

"Allegra?" Her teacher asked, "Would you care to answer the question?"

"Um sorry, what?"

"The pilgrims Ms. Van Allen, why did the pilgrims travel to the new world?" Was this seriously an Advance Placement class?

"They sought religious freedom among other things." She noticed that a few Blue Bloods smiled secretively to themselves.

"Very nice it would be helpful if in the future you could stay with us." Allegra smiled again and nodded her head. It wasn't like she needed this class, in fact she didn't. She knew what happened in Plymouth even if she had not been there been there. But she knew enough of her Blue Blood history to get by.

"Hmm," a boy said from the doorway of the classroom. The whole class paused to stare at the new boy. Girls immediately swooned at his dark hair and bright blue eyes and leather jacket. While boys decided how much of a threat this new boy would pose a threat to their girl pool. "Sorry I got detained in the hallway, this is AP American History right?" He carried a messenger bag over his shoulder and a piece of paper in his other.

"And you are?"

"Stephen Chase, transfer student."

"Yes Mr. Chase this is AP American History take a seat and I will get you a text book after class." Stephen dropped into a seat next to Allegra spreading his schedule out on his desk. She casually looked over at the schedule examining what exactly he was taking. By the look of his schedule they had three classes together out of the seven she was taking.

_Is this class always this exciting? _Stephen scribbled on the corner of the paper. Allegra stared at the note and then looked up at the boy who had written it blushing slightly at having been caught. She fumbled in her bag for a pencil and scrawled on the edge of her notebook

_This is a good day._

_Something to look forward to. _She laughed this boy had a sense of humor unlike any she had met. She met his eyes again and he smiled at her.

* * *

Charles Van Allen would never understand why his twin insisted on going out alone at night. No he could not understand the reasons why she put herself in danger or why she refused to talk to him about it. In the beginning he had tried to be open to it. But as his memories came faster and faster all he wanted to do was to have what they had always had. What they would always have.

He was seated in his AP Literature and Composition class listening to students debate some book that they were to have read. He had skimmed through it in the last night, though he'd read the original copy of _The Awakening _when it had debuted. He was half way listening to what they were discussing.

"Charles why don't you share your opinion? You seem to be awfully quiet today." His teacher asked.

"I think Robert was right in leaving Edna, clearly he had her best interests at heart. Robert knew he could not afford to take care of Edna the way she needed to be, and what's more he did the honorable thing and left her an opening to go back to her life."

"So why did Edna choose not to go back?"

"She was foolish to think that her husband didn't love her, he cared for her, gave her everything she needed and was even patient with her when she was going through a rough time. And after all that he did for her, she threw it back in his face."

"You bring up an interesting point Charles, love what does it mean in the grand scheme of things and how can it affect what we are? Can you fall out of love?"

"I don't think so."

"Truly?"

"I think once you find your soul mate you'll stay with them forever."

"Well anyone else want to counter Charles's comments?"

Charles knew the answers to all of those questions. In the grand scheme of things love was what kept you going. It was what made you get up in the morning and stay up late at night. It was the essential drug. He existed because he was Michael, Pure of Heart, he knew what one would do for love. He left heaven in all of its glory to follow Gabrielle to earth. In all the centuries of his long life he was still in love. He could see her in all of her incarnations and to him it was her constant light and love that kept him coming back. One did not fall out of love, it was not possible.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not mine all things Blue Bloods belong to Melissa de la Cruz

* * *

Allegra was dimly aware that she was walking through a hallway. In many respects it seemed familiar. Candles burned low in their sconces casting long shadows across the room making everything seem darker. She came the room she had been looking for. It was large, a ballroom, yes she could recall the music and dancing couples that had filled the space earlier in the evening. She stood in the shadows of the room, it's vastness making her feel uneasy.

How easy had it been to put on that show tonight? To invite people to her home, to see their happy faces, to put herself on display. She was Gabrielle after all, and with a name like that it demanded that she be present not just physically but socially as well. She slumped against the wall, not caring if her skirts wrinkled. She sat there in the darkness waiting for something to happen. Things always seemed to happen just when she needed them to.

"Relaxing?" Came a familiar voice. She smiled to the darkness, yes it was nice to hear a friend even here. He came sometimes just to visit with her after these events, she knew he was an angel and beyond that she did not care. They seemed to be cut of the same cloth, both looking for something that was beyond this world. Something that every other angel seemed to over look.

"Yes," she breathed leaning her head back against the wall.

"Taking off your mask finally I see."

"They believe in what they see," She replied to the cloaked figure.

"And what do you believe?"

"I believe in the sun," she replied. In her mind she could feel the rays of sun hitting her face feeling the warmth that it brought her cold skin.

"An odd thing to believe in." She heard his footsteps ad he paced the far edges of the room. Like herself he stood just out of reach of the candle light.

"No not really, it's always there, and I know even after the rain, there will be sun."

"But the sun could burn you," he replied coolly.

"Burning is the least of my problems."

"What is your problem Gabrielle?" He struck a match lighting a cigarette. The small light gleamed in the darkness making his face glow with eerie shadows. He puffed out several large smoke rings while waiting for her answer. Even with the additional light distinguishing his features was impossible.

Not that she wanted to break this mystery that she was able to have. It was her secret her own way of rebelling against the strict position of her situation.

"I don't think I have a problem."

"I would suggest finding it before it is too late." He dropped the cigarette crushing the thing under his foot into the fine marble floors. _He _was not going to be happy about that, she thought. The shadow man drifted to the large floor to ceiling glass doors and exited without another thought. She was once again left in the darkness. But the grey light of dawn was returning and with it her confidence. Then there came another set of footsteps and she felt as if her world was turned upside down. Panic laced its way through her veins. She pushed herself up the wall, fleeing the room before he could find her.

Allegra woke with a start, her heart pounding against her rib cage, a scream caught in her throat. What was going on? She had seen it all so clearly the house the man in the shadows was someone she knew. But who was the other? The one who had clearly caused her more fear than she could ever remember feeling.

She pushed the covers back and crawled out of bed grabbing an old sweater out of her closet. She shrugged into the garment as she wandered the halls of her family's mansion. It was odd to feel like a stranger in her own house.

"Better the house than your own body," Allegra said to herself. She let herself into her father's study. She loved the books here the history that was palpable here. Lawrence Val Alen was an expert on American history, his specialty being early American history. In the moonlight, Allegra ran a hand lovingly over the spines, before pulling out a book that she was looking for.

Settling herself in a large armchair she flipped through the pages looking for something that would jog her memory further.

"Late night cram session?" Allegra looked up from the book to see her father framed in the doorway.

"Couldn't sleep," she replied flatly.

"Not that I mind intellectual inquiry," he said, "but I would prefer you kept your visits to my office to the day light hours."

"Sorry," she replied blushing slightly. She closed the book and set in on the table next to her. She climbed out of the chair and ran a hand through her hair as she walked by Lawrence.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, there are just things in here that should not be discovered until you are fully here."

"Of course," Allegra replied cheekily. She brushed past him and went back to her room in a foul mood. She wanted to scream every time a person made a reference to her as being this all powerful being. Allegra grabbed the nearest book and hurled across her room. She was tired of being on the outside always on the outside looking in and never getting anything until it was too late anyway.

Curling up in bed, Allegra pulled her blanket over her head and tried to forget that she was supposed to be special.

* * *

Allegra walked out of Calculus, her spirits more than a little diminished. She did not mind math, but there was just something about it being her last class that made her dread it. Add to that the fact that it was Monday which meant only one thing: Committee Meeting. That combined with Calculus made for one ugly start to the week.

Then there were dreams that seemed to haunt her, there was some shadow in the dark of her mind that she feared above all else. Yet, even in those dark dreams there was a splash of hope, there was a person who could make her smile and make her feel better.

Allegra stuffed her books in her bag and walked out into the hall. Lost in her own mind she did not notice when the new boy walked up to her.

"Hey," Stephen said in greeting. This was fast becoming a habit, Stephen had a way of finding her in the crowd, and he always made her feel like she was the only one with him.

"What oh hi," she smiled at him. He smiled back shoving his ink jet black hair out of his eyes with one swift motion. Girls glared at her, of course it would be Allegra Van Alen who got to the new boy first. Allegra did not know what to do about the situation, maybe if she was like some of the other Red Blood girls she would have given herself wholly over to Stephen, but her Blue Blood complicated things.

"Allegra," her brother said suddenly appearing at her elbow. "Ready to go?" He asked quickly assessing Stephen. Neither boy made an ovation of friendship, in fact both merely regard each other with silent respect. She felt Charles shift silently warning Stephen to back off, and she half heartedly hoped that Stephen read it as just brotherly protection.

"Um no," Allegra lied pushing her blond hair behind her ear, "I was just going to help Stephen with some homework, you know Early American history can be truly brutal."

"I'm sure he has no idea, I'll wait for you?" Her brother offered looking at her expectantly.

"No, I can manage on my own, thanks." She flashed him a smile. She saw the hesitation in his eye, but Charles nodded and left.

"I need help?" Stephen asked trying to suppress a laugh.

" Sorry, I just—"

"No no, apparently you think I need special tutoring so how about it?" He cocked a smile and Allegra was not sure she was still standing upright.

"He's right I do have somewhere I need to be, I should go." She turned to leave but he caught her arm.

"Do you want to go?"

"That's not the point." She jerked her arm free and turned around again.

"Skip, whatever or wherever you have to go, skip spend the afternoon with me."

"I—well—no. I can't." She tried to smile again, but he kept a hold of her.

"Scared?" he challenged.

"Only of my mother." Never let it be said that Allegra Van Alen backed down from a battle.

"Well I can charm more than one person in a day I think."

"Whoever said I was charmed?"

"Was I talking about you?" She smiled at him and he looked in her eyes serious as the grave.

"Maybe?"

"Glad to know I have to work at this. Come on." He walked passed her motioning with his hand. "You can tutor me over a drink." He started down the stairs causing Allegra to run to catch up.

"I don't think you get it, I really can't miss this meeting. I need to go," she said firmly as they reached the doors.

"Fine then go." He indicated with his head toward the door. He stared at her waiting patiently for her to make her move. Allegra weighed her options , she could attend the meeting and be stared at or maybe she could take the afternoon off and just be herself.

" Where did you say we were going?"

"Somewhere," he said mischievously.

* * *

The Silver Bullet: Yes two stories and sadly one is getting neglected. But I am glad you like this one so far.

UnkownP3: thanks I really do enjoy exploring Allegra's character, she's so interesting and can be so many things. Thanks for the review.

JenJenLuvsVamps: Thanks I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter!

Josie: Slowly but surely, this one is a little harder because I already have the ending written, but it's getting there.


End file.
